


30... million?

by psocoptera



Series: Thirty Fic [31]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: 30Fic, Humor, M/M, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2017-12-22
Packaged: 2019-02-18 14:24:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13102044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psocoptera/pseuds/psocoptera
Summary: When unsuitable characters want to get in on your project. :)(See note for series explanation.)





	30... million?

**Author's Note:**

> My 30Fic series was a project of writing stories about characters turning or being thirty. This story is a sort of post-credits bonus scene and doesn't make any sense as a standalone story.

In their little shared apartment, Picard was reading a book.

Q was... also reading a book, sort of, although Picard couldn't help but notice that the pages turned at an angle his mind couldn't quite process, and seemed to be glowing faintly, more like a PADD than paper.

Q made a little sniff and looked up, and Picard preemptively placed his bookmark and closed his book.

"I want to be 30," Q sighed.

Picard frowned. "30... million? That seems young. But 30 billion is too old for the age of the universe."

Q looked back at him consideringly. "I suppose you could do it..."

Picard held up his hand, not that he could ward off one of Q's whims if he was truly set on it.

"We've already done me being young again," he said.

Q sighed again. "Point. But, 30! They all seem to be having so much fun. Well, some of them. A few of them. _I_ would."

Picard decided he didn't need to know who "they" were. "So... you want the particular mix of youth and maturity when identity formation is expected to be accomplished but social role is still relatively flexible?"

Q rolled his eyes. "Well, la-di-dah. Not when you put it like _that_." He crossed and uncrossed his legs. "It's a silly age, anyways," he said. "Let's go visit a stellar nursery or something and never be 30 again."

Picard put his book on the table. "I could stretch my legs," he agreed. Q leapt to his feet, throwing his book over his shoulder (where it vanished rather than hitting the wall, Picard noticed), and held out his hand dramatically. Picard smiled and took it, and they vanished too.

**Author's Note:**

> So, ten years ago, I was turning 30 in a few weeks, I hadn't finished a story in years, and I sat down and wrote a few hundred words about Ranma and Akane as adults.
> 
> A day later, I had a list of 24 characters, and a plan to write 29 more short pieces aging up characters and using up every random plot bunny I had rattling around.
> 
> I wrote 15 of them in the first six weeks. I've written the other 15 over the past ten years.
> 
> The 30Fic project brought writing back into my life at a point when I thought it was long gone. I wrote my first Avatar: the Last Airbender story for a 30Fic (and then I tried an ATLA exchange, which made me brave enough to try Yuletide), and my first Check Please story (which... changed my entire fandom life forever? haha, I said to myself, I've definitely said everything I had to say about *these* guys!).
> 
> I turn 40 in a few days, and I have never had more respect for the power of arbitrary deadlines and arbitrary goals. :)


End file.
